Sri Lanka - first two days

Crazy moment of the day - lounging on a chair by the pool at the hotel listening to "Country Road - West Virginia" while an iguana the size of my arm walked under my chair and disappeared. Literally - never saw him again!

I'm not sure I'm in the best position to be judging Sri Lanka yet - my flight left Delhi at 2am and arrived in Colombo at 5am - which is not the best way to get sleep. And then the conference I'm attending (ICAAP - international congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific) provides a bus from the airport to the hotel which of course means lots of waiting and then a crazy line at check-in as we all descend on the desk at the same time. So I'm tired.

But I have to say I'm not overly impressed with Colombo. It's just India with guns, beef and better beer. The city doesn't really seem like a big city (the indians keep noting the streets are abandoned) as it just has some hotels - and not much else of note. I'm told there's good cheap clothes (cuz, yeah, I need more clothes) and the beach is pretty but not one where I would lay out as it's packed with indian men who can't swim and it's sorta dirty. So you can get that in India. Service has been really poor so far which isn't helped by the fact that I clearly haven't mastered the Sri Lankan accent, as I have for India - because people here have NO idea what I'm saying.

I did hear the President speak today at the opening ceremony. His speech wasn't bad - but they really want people to think Sri Lanka is safe. Really really want that.

The rest of the island sounds really nice, with tea estates, gorgeous beaches and elephant orphanages. I'm planning on heading to a beach at the end of the week and am looking forward to it. But I guess I was expecting more from Colombo. I think I'll sit by the pool tomorrow until 2 when the work starts!